


Merry Month of May Drabbles

by methylviolet10b



Category: Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms, Sherlock Holmes (Downey films), Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
Genre: Drabble Collection, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, Humor, Prompt Fill, a grab bag of emotions and situations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 09:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14808969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/methylviolet10b/pseuds/methylviolet10b
Summary: Five drabbles, one each for the five drabble prompt challenges for May over on Watson's Woes.





	1. Forte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holmes knows how to recognize his weaknesses, and compensate for them. Written for the Week 1 prompt for the Merry Month of May drabble-fest on Watson's Woes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Challenge 1: Use one (or more) of the following words: Breathe; Haunt; Stab; Swim; Evil; Weak; Clench; Emotion; Anger; Weary. Being me, I used almost of them in one drabble. *shrug*

Emotion is not my forte. Watson’s writings are accurate about that. Doubly unfortunate, then, that I am so weary from my three-years’ exile just when Watson’s own troubles need whatever weak emotional skill I can muster.  
  
I expected anger, but that lesser evil could not swim against the tide of my friend’s generous joy. Grief is a much more insidious villain, a haunt that makes my friend’s jaw clench, can stab and cut dead the moments of reviving companionship and comfort between us.  
  
Determination often trumps aptitude. I will keep trying to help until I succeed – for him, and myself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted May 28, 2018.


	2. Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watson reflects on time and the power of ritual. Definitely related to the first drabble. Written for the Week 2 prompt for the Merry Month of May drabble-fest on Watson's Woes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Challenge 2: Use one (or more) of the following words of the day: Layman, Tempus Fugit, Capricious, Plebeian, Commencement. Being me, I used almost of them in one drabble - again. *shrug*

Anyone with a layman’s familiarity with Latin knows _tempus fugit_. Time does fly sometimes. Joyful occasions are like that, but also the pleasant, comfortable norms to which we become accustomed. They too can prove fleeting.  
  
On other occasions time drags, a morass from which there seems no escape. Boredom; illness; grief: time is endless then.  
  
Time proved capricious after losing Mary. In a way, Holmes’ return threatened to turn my mourning into a plebeian joke. Yet my grief was not diminished by my joy, and the rigid framework of the rituals of sorrow provided stability when all else was chaos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted May 29, 2018


	3. Of Their Labours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watson finds more than he expected in the sitting-room. Written for the Week 3 prompt for the Merry Month of May drabble-fest on Watson's Woes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Challenge 3: Use one of the classic ACD case titles in your drabble. I went with one of the five suggested ones and wound up with something groan-worthy. *shrug*

I was already on alert when I opened our sitting-room door. But nothing could have prepared me for the sight of Holmes in his chair, surrounded by five carrot-topped young children, all clamouring for his attention.  
  
“Doctor Watson!” The cheerful hail came from a ginger-headed matron, the picture of respectability except for the gamine grin. That grin and the hair were the only similarities to the Pip I remembered as one of Holmes’ earliest Irregulars.   
  
_Five orange Pips_ , I mused even as I greeted her and her husband, a fellow former Irregular. They clearly couldn’t be happier with their lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted May 30, 2018


	4. All The Jewels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watson's aching in the aftermath of the Bishopgate Jewels Case. Written for the Week 4 prompt for the Merry Month of May drabble-fest on Watson's Woes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Challenge 4: Use one of the unwritten ACD cases in your drabble. I went with one of the five suggested ones and wound up with a tag to something I wrote ages ago, Bringing Down The House. You don't have to read that to understand this, but it would probably help.

By the time Holmes found the rest of the jewellery concealed onstage, all my aches were making themselves known. I said nothing, merely leaned a little more heavily on my cane.

Holmes noticed anyway. His lips thinned, and he hauled our still-dazed criminal to his feet with unnecessary force.

“I’ll forgo educating Abernathy Jones on the intricacies of cause and effect in this Bishopgate case until another day. Even Lestrade might ask too many questions of me tonight, and we’ve better places to be. An extra-long session in the Turkish bath for you, my dear fellow, and then Baker Street.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted May 31, 2018.


	5. Great Courtesy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Watson engages in polite conversation because he is a gentleman, no matter the provocation. Written for the Week 5 prompt for the Merry Month of May drabble-fest on Watson's Woes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Challenge 5: Use one or more of the following words: Alone, Unconscious, Lose, River, Exhaustion. You can guess what I did.

It was simply ill luck that I was alone when Holmes’ client came to call.   
  
Mr Iverson’s _case_ was interesting. It was highly unlikely that a man would lose his dog, his fiancée, his collection of ancient coins, and his maiden aunt all in one night, and yet. My friend was working himself to exhaustion uncovering whatever mysterious thread bound these events together.  
  
Mr Iverson himself, however, was not interesting _at all_. He was a man of many words: a river of words, no, an unending whirlpool of them. Forty-five minutes of polite conversation, and I heartily wished myself unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted May 31, 2018


End file.
